🔗 Share this article

Liverpool's head coach declared he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in 7 Premier League matches at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the champions’ poor run.

Nottingham Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, delivered the largest victory at Anfield in their club records as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in 11 fixtures in all competitions. The British record signing, the Swedish striker, was once more anonymous and the home side contended Murillo’s first goal should have been disallowed for comparable grounds to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort versus City prior to the national team pause. But Slot admitted the responsibility stopped with him and made no excuses.

“Nobody wishes to hear me now talking about officiating calls if you lose 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” said the Reds' boss. “I should examine myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to net a strike. Afterwards we barely generated any chances.

“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you win or lose when you reflect you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, in what aspects can we adjust?’ but that is different from doubting your abilities.

“I want to stress I am responsible for the present losses. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are losing. I can never come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”

The team's performance unravelled as Slot introduced multiple offensive substitutions when pursuing the match. “It was the same on the road at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I substituted the French defender out and put on the Portuguese forward and he found the net straight away to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, now it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool last lost two successive home Premier League fixtures against Forest in the sixties. The most recent occasion they lost back-to-back league games by a 3-0 scoreline was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was very bad. Playing on home soil, conceding 3-0 no matter which team you encounter is a very, very bad result. Unexpected if you look at the first half-hour of the match. I did not witness us producing so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire season, and the initial occasion they arrived in our box they scored.

“It wasn’t against Manchester City, but in every other game we have been the controlling team and were able to generate opportunities. Recently it is nearly consistently that we miss our chances and the ones we concede go in.”